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Introducing Vatican City
The world’s smallest sovereign state (a mere 0.44 sq km), the Vatican sits atop the low-lying Vatican hill just a few hundred metres west of the River Tiber. Centred on the domed bulk of St Peter’s Basilica and Piazza San Pietro, it is the capital of the Catholic world, a spiritual superpower whose law is gospel to the world’s one billion Catholics. On a more temporal level, it’s one of Rome’s most visited areas and you’ll almost certainly have to queue to get into St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums.
Established under the terms of the 1929 Lateran Treaty, the State of the Vatican City is the modern vestige of the Papal States. For more than a thousand years, the Papal States encompassed Rome and much of central Italy, but when Italy was unified in 1861 and Rome fell to Italian troops in 1870, Pope Pius IX was forced to give up the last of his territorial possessions. Relations between Italy and the landless papacy remained strained until Mussolini and Pope Pius XI agreed to form the Vatican State in 1929.
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Tips & articles
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Jump the queue! Get straight to Europe’s classic sights.
12 June 2009
Summer can spell trouble for the traveller in Europe. The weather may be gorgeous, but queues for popular...
Latest headlines for Vatican City
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Opus Dei: Separating fact from fiction
3 July 2009 11:49AM
The BBC's Religious Affairs Correspondent, Christopher Landau, gets exclusive access to the Catholic group Opus Dei, which has a reputation for secrecy.
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Despondent United fans head home
28 May 2009 9:09AM
Manchester United fans begin arriving home from Italy after their team's defeat in the Champions League final.
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'Raw nerves' over Pope's visit
10 May 2009 4:28AM
The BBC's Edward Stourton looks at some of the key points of conflict between Catholics and Jews as the Pope starts his visit to the Holy Land.
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